| Grant Profile: |
| Project Title: |
Niger Delta Community Foundations Initiative |
| PCF/LICUS/SPF: |
PCF |
Status: |
Open |
| File Number: |
322-a
| Region: |
AFR |
| Sector: |
Health and other social services |
Country: |
Nigeria |
| FY approved: |
2006 |
Grant Theme : |
Social dev/gender/inclusion |
| Keyword(s): |
Civil society / NGOs;Community-driven development |
Approved Amount: |
$243,000.00 |
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Grant Recipient:
Bank executed |
Grant Purpose:
The overarching goal of this proprosal is to build a model for sustainable and conflict-sensitive community development in the Niger Delta. To this end, the Niger Delta Community Foundations Initiative proposes to use a framework for partnership and collaboration among local communities, civil society actors, private sector firms, bilateral donors and the Niger Delta Development Commission. The specific operational objective of this activity is to move beyond the current method of allocating shares of oil revenues to local communities, known as the host community, as the practice has been found to be a key driver of conflict in the Niger Delta.
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Grant Activities:
To achieve its objective the proposal envisages the following activities:
1. The creation of two parent Niger Delta Community Foundations (NDCFs) to serve as transparent, equitable and conflict-sensitive grant making bodies to smaller community-based development organizations. The grant will finance the initial establishment of these structures.
2. The formation of Governing Boards, comprised of community members and stakeholders, to oversee and ensure the transparency of NDCFs. The project would also recruit and finance NDCF Secretariats.
3. The project will support the subsequent creation of local community-based development organizations in suitable areas of the Delta, along the lines of the models successfully deployed in Akassa (Bayelsa state) and replicated in the Local Government Areas of Opobo-Nkoro (Rivers state) and Eastern Obolo (Akwa Ibom state).
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News:
After four years in the making, the hard work invested in the PCF-funded Niger Delta Community Foundations Initiative has finally led to the long-awaited legal registration and public launch of the Rivers State Community Foundation in Nigeria. Designed with the objective to sustain the participation of civil society in the development fabric of the country, the project is aimed at promoting development through local capacities. The newly-established Foundation would serve as a transparent, equitable and conflict-sensitive grant-making body to smaller community-based development organizations in the Niger Delta.
The idea behind the project springs from the need to promote a new model for development cooperation in the Niger Delta. Existing mechanisms support distribution of community development funds, primarily provided by oil companies, to communities adjacent to oil company operations. Neighboring communities, often only a few kilometers away, fail to receive any funds. As a consequence, they often resort to violence to stake their own claims to funds, destroying development projects created by companies for their neighbors. This generates intra-community conflicts, creating competition among vulnerable groups in society, such as youth and the elderly, and undermining the performance of development projects. Severe socioeconomic deterioration of the region resulting from its isolation and exclusion has further contributed to persistent ethnic violence, weakening development and deepening poverty, therefore destabilizing the region.
The initiative represents a new model of collaboration among local, national and international actors, inspiring communities’ lost trust in institutions, government’s accountability, and transparency in development assistance.
The project builds on a successful Akassa community foundations model developed by Pro-Natura International, an NGO widely recognized for its achievements in nurturing sustainable local organizations for development. Akassa promotes the idea that local-level institutions are key to assisting communities in implementing projects in a responsible, accountable and transparent manner.
Bringing knowledge and experience from abroad has also been considered an essential element in the project. Two study trips were organized to allow members of the Community Foundation Board to see how successful community foundations are operating – in Tanzania and Northern Ireland in May and September 2008, respectively.
More than 91 percent of funds for the project are to be provided by the private sector, governmental entities, private individuals, and international stakeholders. The World Bank has used its resources to serve as a neutral facilitator and convener in assembling the complex mix of major actors in the Delta, guiding the institutional arrangements of the Rivers State Community Foundation. Pro-Natura International has also proved instrumental in the process of establishing the Foundation. The official launch of the Foundation marked a significant evolution in the initiative transferring management of the project to the Foundation itself.
The Rivers State Community Foundation Board of Trustees includes the Minister of State for Petroleum, the Former Ambassador to Trinidad & Tobago, the Vice Chancellor of the University Port Harcourt, and representatives of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, the Centre for Development Support Initiatives, Manuchim Chambers, Shell Nigeria, Barrister, and Elf Petroleum Nigeria Limited, with the last two representing the Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency Board.
The Rivers State Community Foundation has strong local support, including by members of the Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission which is the Regional Development Organization for the nine States of Nigeria which constitute the Niger Delta administratively. If it proves to be a successful model, the community foundation approach may be implemented beyond Rivers State.
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